An Introduction to the
Next Generation Science
Standards (NGSS)
ANDREA FERBER
ELEMENTARY SCIENCE SPECIALIST, ESC WEST
aaf0418@lausd.net
1
Objectives
2
•
Learn about the rationale for adopting the NGSS
•
Understand how the NGSS are different from the
California Science Standards
•
Become familiar with how the NGSS are organized
•
Learn about how the NGSS are connected to the
CCSS
•
Understand what teachers can do now to prepare
for full implementation of the NGSS
Engineering Design Task
3
• Cut a hole in an index card that is large
enough to pass your entire body through
• Your finished product needs to be a
continuous piece of paper that has not been
reattached in any way
• Work with a partner to accomplish this task
• You have 20 minutes
Engineering Design Task
Solution Steps
1. Cut a slit
down the
middle of the
index card.
4
Engineering Design Task
Solution Steps
2. Beginning at
one end of the
slit, make
alternating cuts
from the inside
and outside on
one side of the
card.
5
Engineering Design Task
Solution Steps
3. Continue
making cuts until
you read the
other end of the
slit.
6
Engineering Design Task
Solution Steps
4. Mirror the cuts
on the other side
of the card.
7
Engineering Practices
8
• The engineering practices are a
natural extension of science
practices.
• Science instruction often includes
opportunities for students to engage
in engineering practices.
Engineering Design (3 Components)
1. Defining the problem
2. Designing solutions
3. Optimizing the design solution
9
Engineering Design in Grades K-2
10
• Engineering design in the earliest grades
introduces students to “problems” as situations
that people want to change.
• Students can use tools and materials to solve
simple problems, use different representations
to convey solutions, and compare different
solutions to a problem and determine which is
best.
Engineering Design in Grades 3-5
11
• In the upper elementary grades, engineering design
engages students in more formalized problem
solving.
• Students define a problem using criteria for success
and constraints or limits of possible solutions.
• Generating and testing solutions also becomes
more rigorous as the students learn to optimize
solutions by revising them several times to obtain the
best possible design.
Engineering Design for Elementary Grades
12
• Students in the elementary grades are not
expected to come up with original
solutions, although original solutions are
always welcome.
• Emphasis is on thinking through the needs
or goals that need to be met, and which
solutions best meet those needs and goals.
Current CA Science Standards
13
Grade 1 Earth Science
Students know…
…that the weather changes from day to
day but that trends in temperature or of
rain (or snow) tend to be predictable
during a season.
Current CA Science Standards
14
Grade 1 Investigation and Experimentation
Students will…
…record observations and data with
pictures, numbers, or written statements.
Current CA Science Standards
15
Grade 4 Life Science
Students know…
…producers and consumers (herbivores,
carnivores, omnivores, and decomposers)
are related in food chains and food webs
and may compete with each other for
resources in an ecosystem.
Current CA Science Standards
16
Grade 4 Investigation and Experimentation
Students will…
…formulate and justify predictions based
on cause-and-effect relationships
Organization of the NGSS
17
NGSS - Three Dimensions
18
Dimension 1 - Scientific and Engineering Practices
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing and using models
6. Developing explanations and
designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
7. Engaging in argument
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating information
NGSS - Three Dimensions
Dimension 2 – Disciplinary Core Ideas
Four Domains
• Physical Sciences
• Life Sciences
• Earth and Space Sciences
• Engineering, Technology and
Applications of Science
19
NGSS - Three Dimensions
Dimension 3 – Crosscutting Concepts
1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect
3. Scale, proportion and quantity
4. Systems and system models
5. Energy and matter
6. Structure and function
7. Stability and change
20
Organization of the NGSS
21
NGSS - Three Dimensions
Integrating
the Dimensions
Crosscutting
Concepts
Practices
22
Disciplinary
Core Ideas
Organization of the NGSS
23
Performance Expectations are statements
that describe what students should be able
to do at the end of instruction and
incorporate one or more Scientific and
Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core
Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts.
Performance Expectations
24
Because Performance Expectations and the
foundation boxes in the NGSS describe learning
outcomes, they are the basis for using backward
design for the development or adaptation of
curriculum and instruction. Simply stated, the
performance expectation can and should be the
starting point of backward design.
ROGER BYBEE, NGSS WRITING LEADERSHIP TEAM
Black Boxes
I found some black boxes. Each one
has a round object inside. They are
permanently glued and taped shut,
so I can’t open them. Can you help
me figure out what the inside of the
these boxes look like?
25
Black Boxes
26
Focus Question #1
What does the inside of your box look like?
• Work in teams of two
• Write a short description of what you think the
inside of the black box looks like and include
a detailed drawing with labeled parts
• Focus on shape and location
Black Boxes
27
Sharing Ideas
Locate the chart paper for your box (A-D) and
draw your team’s idea of what the inside of
your black box looks like.
Black Boxes
28
Collaboration & Consensus
Get together with another team that has the
same black box (A-D) and come to consensus
about what the inside of your black box looks
like.
Black Boxes
Consensus Drawing
Choose a representative from your combined
group of four to draw a revised plan of your black
box.
29
Black Boxes
Focus Question #2
How did working with other scientists
change your original thinking about your
black box?
30
Black Boxes
31
Debriefing the Experience
•
•
•
The term “black box” is a general term scientists
and engineers use to describe a system that works
in mysterious or unknown ways.
For most people, a TV is a black box. Electricity goes
in and a picture miraculously appears on the
screen. A cell phone is another example of a black
box.
What are other examples of black boxes?
Black Boxes
32
Debriefing the Experience
•
Which Science and Engineering Practices were
involved?
•
Which Crosscutting Concepts were involved?
•
How does this activity connect to CCSS ELA and
math standards and practices?
Why New Standards?
33
The U.S. ranks 27th out of 29 developed
nations in the proportion of college
students receiving undergraduate
degrees in science and engineering.
SOURCE: NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Why New Standards?
34
Nearly 90 percent of high school graduates
say they’re not interested in a career or a
college major involving science, technology,
engineering or math, known collectively as
STEM, according to a survey of more than a
million students who take the ACT test.
SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES
Why New Standards?
35
The number of students who want to
pursue engineering or computer science
jobs is actually falling, precipitously, at
just the moment when the need for
those workers is soaring.
SOURCE: NEW YORK TIMES
What is the
Origin of the NGSS?
36
37
NGSS Flowchart
State Assessments
State Curricula
National
Framework
NGSS
Standards
Professional
Development
Instruction
Timeline for Implementation
38
The current California Science Standards will
continue to be in effect for 2014-15 and 2015-16
• Formal instructional shifts will begin in 2016-17
• Full implementation will begin in 2017-18 with
anticipated adoption of new instructional
materials
• The CST will continue to be administered in grade
5 during 2014-15 (possibly through 2016-17)
•
Connections to the CCSS
39
•
The timing of the release of NGSS comes as most states
are implementing the Common Core State Standards
(CCSS) in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
•
The NGSS are aligned with the CCSS to ensure a symbiotic
pace of learning in all content areas. The three sets of
standards overlap in meaningful and substantive ways
and offer an opportunity to give all students equitable
access to learning standards.
SOURCE: NGSS APPENDIX A
Practices in Mathematics, Science, and English Language 40
Arts*
Math
Science
ELA
M1. Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
S1. Asking questions (for science) and
defining problems (for engineering).
E1. They demonstrate
independence.
M2. Reason abstractly and
quantitatively.
S2. Developing and using models.
E2. They build strong content
knowledge.
S3. Planning and carrying out
investigations.
M3. Construct viable arguments
and critique the reasoning of others. S4. Analyzing and interpreting data.
M4. Model with mathematics.
S5. Using mathematics, information and
M5. Use appropriate tools
computer technology, and computational
strategically.
thinking.
M6. Attend to precision.
M7. Look for and make use of
structure.
M8. Look for and express regularity
in repeated reasoning.
S6. Constructing explanations (for
science) and designing solutions (for
engineering).
S7. Engaging in argument from evidence.
S8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating information.
E3. They respond to the varying
demands of audience, task,
purpose, and discipline.
E4. They comprehend as well as
critique.
E5. They value evidence.
E6. They use technology and
digital media strategically and
capably.
E7. They come to understanding
other perspectives and cultures.
* The Common Core English Language Arts uses the term “student capacities” rather than the term “practices”
used in Common Core Mathematics and the Next Generation Science Standards.
Connections
to the CCSS
41
What Can Teachers Do Right Now?
42
“…continue to teach what you are currently
teaching, but endeavor to modify how you
teach it—align instruction with the guidance
provided in the Framework regarding
implementation of the scientific and engineering
practices.”
STEPHEN PRUITT, ACHIEVE SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT AND LEAD DEVELOPER
OF THE NGSS
Summary
43
•
We are all learning this together.
•
Engineering design in science will be new for CA.
•
Feel free to do more research by reading the
Framework and the NGSS.
•
Locate and examine NGSS science lessons on the
Internet to see how the three dimensions work
together with the Performance Expectations.
•
Begin to integrate the Scientific and Engineering
Practices into your science lessons.
44
Resources for Further Research and Learning
•
The Next Generation Science Standards:
http://www.nextgenscience.org
•
A Framework for K-12 Science Education
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=13165
•
NGSS Videos from Paul Anderson (Bozeman
Science)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9SrSBGDNfU
45
Please complete evaluation before you
leave! Go to ESC West Instructional Center
CCSS page and click on yellow “evaluation”
post-it.
THANK YOU!!!
ANDREA FERBER, Elementary Science
Specialist
ESC WEST Email: aaf0418@lausd.net